The North Korean Mafia is an organized crime syndicate in North Korea. The Stalinist dictatorship of North Korea sponsored the Mafia to monopolize all crime in the country; men such as slave trader Lee Choi, smuggler Sun Han, arms dealer Hong-do Seon-u, and money counterfeiting businessman Park Young-guk were allowed to conduct their business with impunity, and men like Seon-u had dealings with the Russian Mafia north of the Russian border. In 2007, they were severely defeated during the Song Initiative intervention, during which most of their leaders were either killed or captured.